Orthodox Beatboxers Cut From ‘America’s Got Talent’
Image by Screenshot/Youtube
Two Orthodox Jewish beatboxers failed to advance on “America’s Got Talent” after wowing the judges in the initial round of the TV competition.
Ilan Swartz-Brownstein and Josh Leviton, both of Manhattan, did not survive in the “Judge Cuts” episode that aired Tuesday night, The Oregonian reported. The show showed a brief segment of their performance.
“I think a lot of people have got better,” judge Simon Cowell said. “I think you’ve got worse.”
Swartz-Brownstein is a native of Portland, Oregon, and a student at Yeshiva University. Leviton is a consultant.
“We chose to go on the show to use this gift of being able to beatbox, and show the world you don’t judge a book by its cover,” Swartz-Brownstein told The Oregonian.
In their July 5 appearance on the NBC reality show, the duo garnered unanimous “yes” votes from the judges for their rendition of Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass.” The pair performed with their tzitzit and kippot visible.
The duo met three years ago at the Western Wall when they were yeshiva students in Israel, they told the judges during that show.
Leviton, who goes by the moniker “The Orthobox,” has performed with the popular Jewish a cappella group The Maccabeats. Swartz-Brownstein is known as “The Aleph Bass.”
In their audition video submitted last year, they were beatboxing to “Hava Nagila.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
